“For those of you so determined to come up w why my body has changed over the years, you may not know that when I started @ 17 I was not yet diagnosed w/Hashimoto’s disease,” Gigi wrote. “Those of u who called me ‘too big for the industry’ were seeing inflammation & water retention due to that.” She said that since her diagnosis, she’s been taking medication for her condition and has worked to adopt a healthier lifestyle. ”
For those of you so determined to come up w why my body has changed over the years, you may not know that when I started @ 17 I was not yet diagnosed w/Hashimoto’s disease; those of u who called me “too big for the industry” were seeing inflammation & water retention due to that.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
Over the last few years I’ve been properly medicated to help symptoms including those, as well as extreme fatigue, metabolism issues, body’s ability to retain heat, etc … I was also part of a holistic medical trial that helped my thyroid levels balance out.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
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As for any concerns that she’s deliberately making herself thin, she wrote: “I have always eaten the same, my body just handles it differently now that my health is better.” And while she said that she finds this “skinny,” not quite right for her, she added that she feels healthier and that she is “still learning and growing with my body everyday, as everyone is.”
Although stress & excessive travel can also affect the body, I have always eaten the same, my body just handles it differently now that my health is better. I may be “too skinny” for u, honestly this skinny isn’t what I want to be, but I feel healthier internally and (cont)
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
(cont) am still learning and growing with my body everyday, as everyone is.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
And in case anyone didn’t get the memo, Gigi emphasizes that this is the last time she intends to explain her body to anyone else. “Please, as social media users & human beings in general, learn to have more empathy for others and know that you never really know the whole story,” she tweeted. “Use your energy to lift those that you admire rather than be cruel to those u don’t.”
I will not further explain the way my body looks, just as anyone, with a body type that doesnt suit ur “beauty” expectation, shouldnt have to. Not to judge others, but drugs are not my thing, stop putting me in that box just because u dont understand the way my body has matured.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
Please, as social media users & human beings in general, learn to have more empathy for others and know that you never really know the whole story. Use your energy to lift those that you admire rather than be cruel to those u don’t.
— Gigi Hadid (@GiGiHadid) February 11, 2018
Gigi Hadid first revealed her Hashimoto’s diagnosis in December 2016. “My metabolism actually changed like crazy this year,” Gigi revealed at Reebok’s #PerfectNever event in New York City, according to People. “I have Hashimoto’s disease. It’s a thyroid disease, and it’s now been two years since taking the medication for it.”
Her disease played a role in how she prepared for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. “I didn’t want to lose any more weight, she said. “I just want to have muscles in the right place, and if my butt can get a little perkier, then that’s good.”
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According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hashimoto’s disease is about seven times more common in women than in men, and people who are diagnosed typically have family members with thyroid or other autoimmune diseases. It can occur in teens and young women, but shows up more commonly in middle-aged women, the organization says. (That said, Gina Rodriguez and Victoria Justice have also said they suffer from the condition.)
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A person develops Hashimoto’s disease when their body creates antibodies that fight against their thyroid gland, says Melanie Goldfarb, M.D., an endocrine surgeon and director of the endocrine tumor program at John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. People may not even notice the symptoms—which include constipation, feeling cold and rundown, and having difficulty concentrating—at first, as they’re not super obvious, says Goldfarb. Eventually, though, your thyroid won’t function as well as it could, and as a result you’ll likely start noticing some seemingly unexplainable weight gain, she says.
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That often brings people into the doctor’s office, where diagnosis happens through a blood test that measures the levels of the thyroid hormone and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in your body, says Supneet Saluja, M.D., an endocrinologist at Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Hospital. (Heal your whole body with Rodale’s 12-day power plan for better health.)
Sometimes, doctors take a wait-and-see-approach with Hashimoto’s disease. “Having the condition itself doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to have symptoms or that your thyroid isn’t working,” Goldfarb explains. Doctors will typically give patients a blood test each year to check their thyroid hormone levels and, if they start to drop, they’ll prescribe medication like levothyroxine to help them re-stabilize.
And yes, experts say it’s totally plausible to have Hashimoto’s disease and still be healthy. “Once [your body is producing] the right amount of thyroid hormone, [everything] should be back to normal,” says Saluja. Plus, any weight gain that occurred because hormone levels were out of whack should drop off once they’re back in proper working order.